Crikey, a snail for Steve

SYD­NEY: An Aus­tralian sci­en­tist has paid an un­usual trib­ute to late con­ser­va­tion star Steve Ir­win by nam­ing a rare species of snail “crikey steveir­wini”.

Queens­land Mu­seum sci­en­tist John Stanisic said khaki colours on the stripy tree snail re­minded him of the trade­mark shirt and shorts worn by Ir­win, who died in a freak in­ci­dent in 2006.

“This is an ex­tremely rare species of snail,” Stanisic said on Fri­day, de­scrib­ing it as “a colour­ful snail, with swirling bands of creamy yel­low, or­ange­brown and chocolate giv­ing the shell an over­all khaki ap­pear­ance”.

“Croc­o­dile Hunter” Ir­win, known for his “Crikey!” catch­phrase, has al­ready had a wildlife re­serve, a tur­tle and an anti-whal­ing ship named af­ter him. – Sapa-AP